Follower for packing barrels.



No. 631,86l. Patented Au 29, I899.

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FoLLowmron PACKING BARRELS.

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PATENT FFiC-E.

NORRIS MERTON ROOT, OF MASONVILLE, NEW YORK.

FOLLOWER FOR PACKING BARRELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters latentNo. 631,861, dated August 29, 1899.

Application filed December 16, 1898. Serial No. 699,479. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, NORRIS lVIERTON RooT, of Masonville, in the county of Delaware and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Follower for Packing Barrels, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for packing or holding meat, pork, pickles, fish, or other articles under brine in a barrel; and the object is to provide a device for this purpose that shall be of simple and comparatively inexpensive construction, easily adjusted to the varying diameters of a barrel, and having no metal parts to come in contact with the brine to rust out or impart a rusty metallic taste to the provisions in the brine.

I will describe a follower for packing barrels embodying my invention and then point out the novel features in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both views.

Figure l is a sectional view of a follower for ackin barrels embod in m invention showing the same as arranged in a barrel; and Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof.

The follower comprises a wooden plate or disk 1, having a diameter substantially equal to that of the open end of a barrel and designed to be moved downward in the barrel to press the contents thereof underneath the brine. Mounted on the upper side of the disk or plate 1 and extending radially from its center in opposite directions are guide-strips 2 3. Each guide-strip is provided with a longitudinal slot 4, and extended downward from the lower wall of each slot is a series of notches 5, these notches being inclined downward or toward the center of the plate or disk. The outer ends of the guide-strips are connected by cross-pieces 6, integral with the guidestrips, and the guide-strips are connected to the plate or disk by means of pins 7, extended through the cross-pieces 6, and for these pins I preferably employ wood. The inner portions of the guide-strips merge into a block 8, and a pin 9 extends through this block and also through the plate or disk 1. The said pin also extends upward above the block 8 to provide a handle 10.

Movable in each of the guide-strips is a holding-arm 11, provided at its outer end with a metal point 12, designed to engage in the material of the barrel, as plainly indicated in Fig. l. A cross-head 13 extends through the inner end of the arm 11 and is adapted to slide in the slots 4 and also to engage in opposite notches 5, formed in the guide-strips 2 3. This cross-head 13 is flattened at its'side toward the outer end of the arm 11, so that the thickness between its flattened side and the opposite side of the cross-head is substantially equal to the Width of the slots 4, the diameter of the cross-head at right angles to a line drawn from said flattened portion to to the opposite side being greater than the distance between the walls of the slots. By this construction the cross-heads cannot become detached from the notches by an upward movement of the inner ends of the arms,-

slots before said cross-heads can leave the notches. WVhen, however, it is desired to move the arms outward or inward along the slot to adjust the arms to the diameter of the barrel, the arms must be turned in a vertical direction, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1,50 that the flattened portion may slide along the upper wall of the slot. This adjustment of the arms is necessary to accommodate the device for various-sized barrels or for accommodating it to the different diameters of a barrel when the pressing device is moved downward after removing portions of the contents of the barrel, it being well understood that in packing barrels the diameter at the center is greater than that at the ends.

All parts of the device described,excepting the points 12 and the ferrules on the ends of the arms, are to be made of wood, so that there will be no parts submerged in the brine to become rusty or to impart a rusty taste to the contents of the barrel.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Pat-ent 1. A follower for packing barrels, comprising a disk or plate, guide-strips extended in opposite directions on said disk or plate, the said guide-strips having longitudinal slots provided with notches in their lower walls,-

holding-arms and cross-heads on said arms projected into the slots, one thickness of the portions of the cross-heads being substantially equal to the distance between the walls of the slots and the thickness at right angles to the firstnamed thickness being greaterthan the distance between the walls of the slots, substantially as specified.

2. A follower for packing barrels, comprising a disk or plate,oppositely-extended guidestrips on the upper side thereof, the said guide-strips being provided with longitudinal slots and also having notches in their lower A. D. LEED, A. J. TELLS. 

